in a "washington post" op-ed, bob woodward claims it came directly from the white house, writing, "obama personally approved the plan." white house officials have argued that the majority of house republicans voted to approve the sequester. as for furloughs, government officials say the majority of them won't take effect for about a month. lester? >> kristen, thank you. for more on how all this is playing out we're joined by cnbc's chief washington correspondent john harwood. if we get to friday, they don't make a deal, do these cuts all play out at once or do they transpire over a series of weeks or months? >> they'll play out for a while, maybe not for a long while. even though both parties seem willing to let the sequester go into effect there's a lot not to like for both sides. if we see the effects like longer air travel delays you're going to see increasing pressure from their constituents to negotiate some sort of alternative. >> for the last couple of years we've heard about the so-called grand bargain. is that just a dream or is it something we could see happen to solve all this